The mission of the Ohio Fair Schools Campaign is to organize and advocate for high quality public education opportunities for all Ohio children wherever they live, whatever their race and whatever their family background.
Wednesday February 27, 2008 Volume 6, Issue 4
WHAT’S UP WITH SCHOOL FUNDING
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1. OHIO FAIR SCHOOLS CAMPAIGN UPDATE
2. A REQUEST FROM CATALYST OHIO
3. OHIO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION ANNOUNCES BUDGET CUTS
4. MORE ABOUT PROPOSED STATE DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION
5. NEW STUDY ON FINANCIAL IMPACT OF VOUCHERS AND CHARTER SCHOOLS
6. NEW REPORT ON ADVANCED PLACEMENT
7. COURT RULING: NCLB TRUMPS IDEA
8. NEW HAMPSHIRE APPROVES CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
9. GRANTS AND OPPORTUNITIES

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1. OHIO FAIR SCHOOLS CAMPAIGN UPDATE
Mark your calendar; our next statewide meeting is this Thursday, March 13 from 11-2 at the AFL-CIO in Columbus. The AFL-CIO is located at 395 E. Broad Street. Paolo DeMaria, from the Ohio Department of Education, will be attending to provide an update on the work of the State Board of Education school funding subcommittee. Please join us!

Thank you to everyone who has already started using your Kroger cards. If you haven’t signed up yet, it’s easy! If you choose to help, it costs you nothing, but you will be contributing to help fix school funding in Ohio. Kroger will donate 5% of all of your purchases, including gasoline, to the Ohio Fair Schools Campaign. All you have to do is purchase a Kroger Gift Card from us for $5 (it will have $5 credit on the card) and use this card every time you shop at Kroger. You can use it at any Kroger store. You pay nothing extra for your items.

If 100 people spend an average of $200 per month at Kroger, the Ohio Fair Schools Campaign will receive $1,000 each month. This would help to sustain our work throughout Ohio. Please order your card today! To get started with your card, please call the office (740) 592-2866 or e-mail Debbie: Debbie@ohiofairschools.org

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2. A REQUEST FROM CATALYST OHIO
Catalyst Ohio needs your input as they update their web site and consider new multimedia approaches to delivering their reports. Please take a few minutes to fill out a brief survey at this link: http://www.polldaddy.com/s/23B0314AE83655A0/ Surveys need to be completed by Wednesday, Feb. 27th.  

The February 2008 issue of Catalyst Ohio examines early childhood education. To read it on-line, visit: http://www.catalyst-cleveland.org/issue/index.php?issueNo=54

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3 . OHIO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION ANNOUNCES BUDGET CUTS
The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) released information regarding FY08-09 budget cuts. The ODE was asked to reduce their FY08-09 budget by $101 million through an executive order issued by Governor Strickland. The cuts include reducing state aid for new school buses, professional development for teachers and educational service centers. In addition, funding for developing and administering student assessments will be cut by $6 million and ODE will eliminate up to 26 of its 667 full-time positions. In her 2-25-08 Education Update, Joan Platz includes details on the line items in the ODE’s budget reductions. To read the complete list with detailed dollar amounts, visit: http://ohiofairschools.org/learn/Ed_Updates/02_25_08.html

To read a related article, visit:
2/12 Columbus Dispatch
Schools agency plans cuts
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/02/13/edbud.ART_ART_02-13-08_B1_2O9BFCO.html?sid=101

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4. MORE ABOUT PROPOSED STATE DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION
Here’s a sampling of articles that ran in newspapers across the state about Governor Strickland’s proposal to create a statewide Director of Education.

2/24 Columbus Dispatch
For decades, governors have sought school reform
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/insight/stories/2008/02/24/edhistory.ART_ART_02-24-08_G2_4A9DQ90.html?sid=101

2/20 Mount Vernon News
Reaction mixed to governor’s education plan
http://www.mountvernonnews.com/local/08/02/20/edu.ohio.gov.html

2/19 Canton Repository
OK from Legislature is key to changing education, structure
http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=399970&Category=14&subCategoryID=

2/19 The Plain Dealer
Strickland pushes to sideline state school board, name education czar
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1203413481278390.xml&coll=2

2/15 Akron Beacon Journal
Editorial: Academic alignment
http://www.ohio.com/editorial/opinions/15658107.html

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5. NEW STUDY ON FINANCIAL IMPACT OF VOUCHERS AND CHARTER SCHOOLS
The Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools (OSPCS) released a study called "Shattering the Myth: An Analysis of the Impact of Charter and Voucher School Finances in Ohio's Big Eight Urban School Districts."  According to the study, the urban eight school districts have not been harmed financially by school choice programs, and actually, ".... the opposite is true: School districts have far more resources available to educate students today than they did 12 years ago, even adjusting for inflation." The study goes on to say, "Traditional public schools historically have monopolized the expenditure of public education funds. The existing funding formula awards districts rather than students. Now that approximately 86,000 children statewide are in choice programs (SY2006-07 data), the result is substantial inequity in public funding between them and their peers still in traditional public schools." The study makes the following conclusion: "With the many choice options available today, Ohio would do well to re-examine the current funding model and perhaps institute a "money follows the child" approach similar to other government programs such as the GI Bill, food stamps and Medicaid. In these programs, eligible participants are allotted funds and then permitted to seek education, food or medical care, respectively, from the provider of their choice. The study is available at http://www.oapcs.org/pdf/SchoolChoiceFactbook.pdf

The Ohio Education published a critique of the study which says “The OAPCS analysis fails to consider the bloated administrative costs of charter schools, ignores the hefty profit margins reaped by for-profit charter school operators, and offers no cost-benefit analysis of charter schools and vouchers.” It goes on to say, “To merely report changes in expenses for urban school districts, results in an incomplete and misleading representation of the financial impact of Ohio’s school choice programs.” To read the critique, visit:
http://www.ohea.org/GD/Templates/Pages/OEA/OEADetail.aspx?page=3&TopicRelationID=101&Content=9920

To read a related article, visit:
2/14 Youngstown Vindicator
Charter schools: Public schools doing well
http://www.vindy.com/news/2008/feb/14/charter-schools-public-schools-doing-well/

Summary courtesy of Joan Platz, LWVO weekly Education Update

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6. NEW REPORT ON ADVANCED PLACEMENT
About 18 percent of Ohio students who graduated from a public high school in 2007 took at least one Advanced Placement test, compared with almost 25 percent nationally, according to a College Board report released last week. About 11 percent of those Ohio students graduating in 2007 earned a 3 (the equivalent of a C) or higher on their test, the level at which some colleges offer college credit. The national average was 15.2 percent. The tests are graded on a scale of 1 to 5, the highest score. Read the Ohio AP report, visit: http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/Ohio-AP-Report-2008.pdf

Read the full AP report, visit: http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/ap-report-to-the-nation-2008.pdf
Read AP report for other states, visit: http://professionals.collegeboard.com/data-reports-research/ap/nation

To read a related article, visit:
2/14 New York Times
Larger Share of Students Succeed on A.P. Tests
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/14/education/14exam.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin Summary courtesy of CORAS: http://www.coras.org

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7. COURT RULING: NCLB TRUMPS IDEA
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, in Chicago, ruled unanimously this week that even if the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law was at odds with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the special education law “must give way” because NCLB is the newer statute. The suit said that the IDEA’s requirement that each special education student have an individualized education program (IEP) is contrary to the requirement under the No Child Left Behind law that special education students count as a distinct subgroup whose test results help determine whether a school makes adequate yearly progress (AYP), the key NCLB measure for holding schools accountable. The plaintiff districts missed making AYP in the year before the suit was filed solely because their subgroups of students with disabilities missed their AYP targets.

The attorney for the plaintiffs said that many school districts are running into conflicts between requirements of the NCLB law and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. “There are many school districts that are missing AYP only because of special-needs children, and only because they are being required by the regulators to measure special-needs students’ progress by standardized tests, in a manner that is inconsistent with their individualized education programs," the attorney said.
Source: Education Week

Summary courtesy of CORAS: http://www.coras.org

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8. NEW HAMPSHIRE APPROVES CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
Last week the New Hampshire Senate voted 19 to 5 to approve a measure that would "change the constitution so the neediest towns could be singled out for aid." New Hampshire Governor John Lynch said the proposed amendment "will allow the state to stop sending a base per-pupil amount of aid to every town." Proponents "argue wealthier towns don't need the state's help like poor towns do." Instead, supporters say, "the state should send all or most aid to the poorest towns, which means towns in the middle and upper end of the property wealth spectrum would get little or no money." According to media reports, some Republican members "believe the amendment doesn't go far enough to push the courts out of the school funding debate." While some House Democrats "believe the state has the responsibility to pay for the full cost of an adequate education in all communities."  

To read a related article, visit:
2/21 Boston Globe
NH Senate votes 19-5 to pass constitutional school aid amendment
http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2008/02/21/nh_senate_votes_19_5_to_pass_constitutional_school_aid_amendment/

Summary courtesy of CORAS: http://www.coras.org

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9. GRANTS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Support for Innovative Public School Teachers
The Jordan Fundamentals Grant Program recognizes outstanding teaching and instructional creativity in public elementary and secondary schools that serve economically disadvantaged students. Innovation Grants, averaging $2,500, will be awarded to individual teachers to support the development of more effective approaches to engage students and foster improved outcomes. Inspiration Grants, averaging $10,000, will be awarded to teams of teachers to support scaling-up the implementation of approaches originally developed with Innovation Grants. Applicants must be employed by an accredited public school where at least 50% of the school’s student population is eligible for the free or reduced school lunch program. The application deadline is March 30, 2008. Applications may be submitted through the website: http://www.nike.com/jumpman23/features/fundamentals/overview.html

Support for Character Education Programs
Through the Sprint Ahead for Education grant program, the Sprint Foundation will provide support for character education programs that promote youth leadership, youth volunteerism, school pride, and a positive school culture. The grant program is open to all U.S. K-12 public schools and public school districts. Grants will fund the purchase of resource materials, supplies, equipment, and software to promote character education among K-12 students. School level grants range from $500 to $5,000; district level grants range from $10,000 to $25,000. The 2008 grant application period will open on March 3 and applications must be submitted by April 15. Applications may be submitted through the website: http://www.sprint.com/citizenship/education/sprintahead/index.html
Ohio Fair Schools Campaign, 94 Columbus Road
Athens, Ohio 45701
Tel. (740)592-2866 Fax (740)593-5451